Human Connectedness within the Natural World

Throughout Oliver’s “The Swan” is an implicit sense of calm that stands in contrast to an increasingly globalized, urbane life. Oliver's inspiration from the transcendentalist poets who preceded her appears throughout the poem in the way her speaker becomes completely enraptured by a single natural image. The speaker is so taken with the swan that she can only describe it in metaphors and abstract language, suggesting the degree of emotion that the experience carries for her.

Despite the speaker’s immersion in nature, her view of the natural world does not come across as isolationist or alienating. After all, throughout “The Swan,” she repeatedly addresses a listener or interlocutor through the use of the second person “you.” This frequent appearance of the second-person address suggests the speaker’s attempts to create some kind of connection with an audience, whether it...